When I first saw this movie I was young and I thought it was very romantic. In the intervening years I have come to see it in another light.
This film is so full of racial stereotypes such as the happy slaves singing as they greet or bid farewell to the master.
I would have liked to know more about Michelle's story, too. I think there is a scene in which she admits that for awhile she was Bond's mistress, but that it didn't mean anything as Michelle tells Amantha, she was just another of his women. It's over at the time Amantha enters the house, but it seems Bond does hold a lingering regard for her, and she holds the position of responsibility managing his household. Michelle is so dignified and elegant. She does just disappear, which is a shame.
I hate that as soon as the men in her life discover Amantha's black blood, they take it as license to treat her like a strumpet.
I did not care for Bond; he treated his slaves kindly, but he was a slave owner just the same, and if he was really good, he would not have taken advantage of Amantha, who did not have the choice.Yes, he does give her the choice to leave him (after he sleeps with her, of course) The love story between him and Amantha is not credible.She had, at this point in the story, no one in the world except Bond.And, correct me if I'm wrong; he simply takes her as another mistress, the flower bedecked cart carrying them to the boat for Point de Loup notwithstanding.
I enjoyed the young Sidney Poitier as the proud steward Rau-Ru, but even he caves in to his 'master'/surrogate father at the end, letting him escape the marauding northern army.
This movie was a bit racy for the 1950s, as witness the conversation of Dolly, the lusty girl(another racial stereotype) who comes to bring breakfast to Amantha.
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RRozsa
10 years ago
I've never considered the slaves' singing as any indication that they were "happy". I believe singing for the whites as they arrive/depart or during special occasions was what they were expected to do; they probably were forced to do it at first and after a period of time it became just another tradition. I have read that they did sing a lot as a means of self-comfort, to try and make the best of their situation. It probably helped them endure -- singing of a happier time in the next life. And I believe they probably took pride in their voices. The younger ones who had been raised to know nothing except slavery probably even enjoyed singing, even though they lived a life of unbelievable hardship that neither you nor I can even imagine. In college I earned a Bachelor Degree with a double major in Music Theory and Music History, although we didn't go into the musical culture of American slaves in as that much depth as I would have liked. There just aren't as many printed artifacts remaining from that time period as there are from other cultures and periods.
As for the slave who stole from the Yankees to help Hamish get away, that could probably be attributed to some form of Stockholm Syndrome. It would not surprise me to find that similar instances actually occurred in real life -- former slaves who helped or protected their "masters", even against those who were trying to free them, simply because it had always been so ingrained in them after many, many years of slavery.
We never actually saw Hamish in bed with Amantha. Do we know for sure that he slept with her, even after she kissed him during the storm? I never got the impression that she was his mistress, even though she was accused of it by Seth. I haven't read the book; maybe it was spelled out clearer in the printed story.
Life's a banquet, and most poor suckers are starving to death!
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spookyrat1
7 years ago
We never actually saw Hamish in bed with Amantha.
This was 1957 ... were you seriously expecting too? She's draped across the bed the next morning in her nightgown sleeping the sleep of the dead, after having a thoroughly enjoyable bonk the night before. That's just about as graphic as you'd ever get back then.🐭
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